4/27 Saturday Ride

We'll take advantage of the good forecast to head out to Pineland this weekend (Ride route). It looks to be pretty nice all day, so we will plan to leave the shop at 8:00am.

We are also looking for volunteers to help lead the ride on a regular basis. If you are interested, send me an email. We need folks ASAP, so don't be shy.

A quick safety tip for those of you with iPhones. Please create a contact titled "Emergency" in your phone. For most of you, this will allow the use of Siri to call numbers stored under that contact without having to unlock your phone. I assume Android phones have a similar feature. This doesn't replace the need for wearing some form of emergency contact information, but it does add another layer in the event something happens during the ride.

Finally, we would like to open a dialogue regarding the purpose and the future of the Saturday ride. Traditionally, this ride was the introductory ride, designed to provide a gateway into group riding. However, over the past few years, we have stretched that definition significantly. Last year I noticed that the tension seemed to be growing and the ride seemed to be polarizing a bit more than in the past. The current season is young, but there are signs that the gap is widening. Since the riders make the ride, we would appreciate your feedback on where we are, what we need to improve and what the goals of the ride should be. Please feel free to use the comments, email me, email Bron, or simply take a few minutes to give us your thoughts during the ride.

See you Saturday.

4/21 Sunday Ride

UPDATE:

We are moving the start time on Sunday to 9:00 to give the temps a chance to climb above 40°. 

See you at 9:00 at Back Bay Bikes.

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It's been a bad spring for Saturday rides and this week doesn't look to be much different. In an effort to actually get out and ride, we are moving the ride to SUNDAY. For now, we are going to shoot for an 8:00 9:00 departure since it doesn't appear that things will warm up all that much if we delay the start.

The plan is to do our route out toward Freeport (Ride Route) and anyone who wants can split off at South Freeport Road to head up toward Brunswick and get some extra miles in.

4/13 Saturday Ride -- Maybe?

I can't make the ride this week and I haven't received confirmation from Bron whether she can make it. So, if someone is willing to play the role of leader, feel free to step up. Use the comments (please do not post as "anonymous") to pick a time and a route. My suggestion is to meet at 9:00 so the clouds have a chance to burn off a bit.

4/6 Saturday Ride Cancelled

While the temps look like they will inch just high enough to justify a ride, the combination of strong winds from the northwest have convinced us to cancel the ride this week.

3/30 Saturday Ride

It looks like we should have a pretty nice morning this Saturday to start the season, but to give the clouds a chance to burn off and for the temps to inch up just a bit, We will plan on leaving the Back Bay Bikes shop at 9:00 am. 

Rather than navigate the construction for the first ride of the season, we will start out with the Prout's Neck loop (Route Map). Expect a pretty casual ride this week so we can all start to get our legs underneath us.

It's always a good idea to be thinking about safety, so please review the group riding guidelines and don't forget to bring emergency contact information. 

As always, please drop me an email if you have any questions. See you Saturday.

Spring?

There's close to a foot of fresh snow on the ground, but the first day of spring is the line in the sand for me. Winter be damned, it's time to start planning the biking season. 

Unfortunately, this Saturday doesn't look like the best week to start the ride up again. While the temps might inch up just over 40, the wind looks to be pretty brisk and there promises to be some ice on the shoulders for most of the morning. 

So, we'll keep our fingers crossed and plan on an Easter weekend start this year, with the first official ride heading out next Saturday, March 30. For now we'll leave the time up in the air, so check back by Thursday next week for a start time.

With the start of the season comes the opportunity to implement a few changes to the ride. Some will be forced—such as the detour around the back cove construction—but we're also toying with a few voluntary ones. One high tech change that we are planning to play around with this year is that I will be providing a link via twitter that will allow live access to our routes. The thinking is that this live look at our location will help: (1) riders who get lost and want to rejoin the group; (2) riders who want to meet up in the middle of the ride; (3) significant others who want a way to gauge when the ride will be over; and (4) stalkers who want to know where I am every Saturday morning. Once we get some kinks worked out, we'll post more information on how to view the live feed for the ride route.

We're open to other suggestion you may have, so please, if you have things that you would like to change, or even if there were things from last year that you really liked and want to make sure we continue, please drop me an email.

Finally, we've got a poll over on the right column. Please let us know what your threshold is for riding in the cold.

See you next weekend.

No 11/17 Saturday Ride

With morning temps below freezing, there will be no ride this week.

Saturday Ride (No ride 11/10)

Now that we've had our first snow, it's time to consider when we will formally end the Saturday rides for the winter. Please drop me an email and let me know if you would like to keep riding and how cold is too cold (feel free to include a wind chill limit).

Sometime this winter, we were thinking it would be nice to try to get together to see each other and to talk a bit about the ride for next year. I already have contact info for many of the regulars, and I will definitely post an update here if we do anything, but if you drop me an email I will add you to my contact list.

As for this week's ride, there will be no formal ride: it's likely that it will be in the upper 30s even at 9:00 and I'm a bit concerned that the roads will be a mess with the snow that will be melting.

11/3 Saturday Ride

Starting late doesn't look like it will make much difference in the temperature, so we will plan to leave the shop at the normal time tomorrow—just after 8:00 am.

We'll pick the route in the morning, so bring your suggestions.

10/27 Saturday Ride

The ride will start an hour late this week -- 9:00 am -- to give the temps a chance to climb into the 50s. The route will be decided at the start, so bring your suggestions. 

Ride Moved to Sunday 10/21

Nobody responded and I don't want to ride in the rain, so we are going to move the ride to Sunday. We will leave from the shop at 8:00. Bring your suggestion for a route.

10/20 Saturday Ride

Should we move the ride to Sunday this week to take advantage of what will be a much nicer day? My vote is that we move to Sunday, but I'm open to suggestions.

Please leave a comment or drop me an email with your input. I will update this post by 7:00 this evening with the plan.

10/13 Saturday Ride

We will leave at 9:00am this week.

It looks like it will be bright and sunny tomorrow morning, but the temps should be a bit on the chilly side. So, we will plan to leave the shop late to give the sun some time to warm things up a little.

We will pick a route in the morning based on the temperature and the wind.

10/6 Saturday Ride

It looks like we are going to have a dry and a touch chilly window for our ride tomorrow morning. I will be leading the shorter route, which will head out Middle and over to Sligo (MapMyRide route). For those doing the Dempsey Challenge and anyone else who wants to get a few more miles a trip up toward Pineland is an easy extension.

9/29 Saturday Ride

We're going to leave things pretty open this week since the weather looks wet and windy for Saturday and a fair number of people have plans to head to Acadia for the Cadillac Challenge. I am planning to lead the short ride on a nice easy 25-20 mile jaunt (route TBD). If you are interested in leading a longer ride, please drop me an email.